V-Day is an organized response against violence toward women.
V-Day is a vision: We see a world where women live safely and freely.
V-Day is a demand: Rape, incest, battery, genital mutilation and sexual slavery must end now.
V-Day is a spirit: We believe women should spend their lives creating and thriving rather than surviving or recovering from terrible atrocities.
V-Day is a catalyst: By raising money and consciousness, it will unify and strengthen existing anti-violence efforts. Triggering far-reaching awareness, it will lay the groundwork for new educational, protective, and legislative endeavors throughout the world.
V-Day is a process: We will work as long as it takes. We will not stop until the violence stops.
V-Day is a day. We proclaim Valentine's Day as V-Day, to celebrate women and end the violence.
V-Day is a fierce, wild, unstoppable movement and community.
Consider how radically your world would change if, without notice, you were forced to leave your home and possessions behind and relocate to an area where you don’t know anyone and have no idea when you will eat next. This is the reality of millions of people across the world.
A refugee is a person forced to leave his or her country because he or she is unable to live at home or because he or she fears harm. This can be due to fighting, religious or racial persecution, or natural disasters such as earthquakes and floods.
An internally displaced person (IDP) is a person who has been forced to leave his or her home, often for the same reasons as a refugee; however, IDPs find another place to live within their own country. They usually live in makeshift camps where hundreds of other IDPs live because they have nowhere else to go.
There are around 10.6 million refugees in the world, 1 million asylum seekers and 25.8 million internally displaced people (IDP).
Most refugees and IDPs are in Asia and Africa, where about 9.2 million refugees and 18.1 million IDS are found.
During flight from areas of conflict, families and children continue to be exposed to multiple physical dangers, such as sudden attacks, shelling, snipers and landmines. Often, they must walk for days with only limited quantities of water and food. Under such circumstances, children become acutely undernourished and prone to illness. They are often the first to die.
Refugee/IDP camps are temporary shelters where 14 million refugees and up to 25 million IDPs live today. Sometimes people can end up living in one for well over a decade.
Refugee camps often lack water, electricity, sanitation and health care. They are usually overcrowded and unhygienic. Children are especially at risk of malnutrition in refugee camps, and disease can spread very quickly.
About 80% of internally displaced people are women and children. About half of the world’s refugees are children.
Refugee and IDP children are more vulnerable to those forcing children to become child soldiers or to traffickers selling children as slaves. (There are already 5.7 million child slaves worldwide.)
An estimated 300,000 underage child soldiers are currently serving in armies and militias around the world, some of them plucked straight from refugee camps. Untold numbers of older, but still vulnerable youths, have also been recruited.
In times of war, the disintegration of families and communities leaves women and girls especially vulnerable to violence. Rape is a continual threat, as are other forms of gender-based violence, including prostitution, sexual humiliation and mutilation, trafficking and domestic abuse.
Tracy Chapman is an
American song writer born in 1964 in Ohio. She has been writing songs
since she was eight, after her mother bought her a ukelele that waked her taste for music. Tracy
attended the program “A Better Chance” and later she went to
college and majored in Anthropology and African Studies.
In 1978 Tracy joins an
African drum ensemble at college, but in the meantime she develops her own guitar playing
and performs self written acoustic songs. In 1988 she released her
first album and the most commercially successful one. This namesake album
was critically acclaimed and she began touring and building a fan
base. “Fast Car”, “Talking About Revolution” and “Baby Can
I Hold You” were her first hits and her most triumphant songs until
our days.
I think that it
is important to highlight that Tracy is not only an amazing musician
but also a social activist. She has performed at numerous socially
aware events, for instance she performed in London to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
with Amnesty International. She also supported other causes like an
Anti-Apartheid movement, an AIDS awareness event and the cause Make
Poverty History.
Her will to make a better world can
also be seen in her lyrics, for this reason I will attach her song
“Subcity” that describes the life of the lower classes. I
personally love her music and I think she is a great human being.
“People say it doesn't exist
'Cause no one would like to admit That there is a city
underground Where people live everyday Off the waste and
decay Off the discards of their fellow man
Here in
subcity life is hard We can't receive any government relief I'd
like to please give Mr. President my honest regards For
disregarding me
They say there's too much crime in these city
streets My sentiments exactly Government and big business
hold the purse strings When I worked I worked in the factories
I'm at the mercy of the world I guess I'm lucky to be alive
They say we've fallen through the cracks They say the
system works But we won't let it help I guess they never stop
to think We might not just want handouts But a way to make an
honest living Living this ain't living
What did I do
deserve this Had my trust in god Worked everyday of my life
Thought I had some guarantees That's what I thought At
least that's what I thought
Last night I had another restless
sleep Wondering what tomorrow might bring Last night I
dreamed A cold blue light was shining down on me I screamed
myself awake Thought I must be dying Thought I must be dying”
Hello everyone, just passing by to
share my thoughts on the movie we saw on the last English class.
I guess that this movie, Precious,
gives us perspective. With this I mean that we spent our lives consumed in our
own problems, especially at our age, without realizing how lucky we are
sometimes. I don’t mean that we must be always happy and completely satisfied because that’s not humanly possible, but it is really important to value some
parts of our lives, that we sometimes take for granted, like a safe home, a
good education, a family who loves us, food on the table every day.
Of course this is a really strong
and touching movie and I believe that it is not about this one girl but about
many girls in the world with similar stories of tragedy and strength. But, although it is tragic, I don’t think that the movie was made to make us feel pity for the
many “Precious” in the world, this is not a story of a “poor little girl”, this
is a story of how a great and valuable human being broke through unthinkable pain
and suffering, this is a message of hope.
Gabrielle Andersen-Schiess was a marathon runner, born in Switzerland. In the Summer Olympics 1984, during the women's marathon, Gabrielle, completely dehydrated and was disoriented by the effort in the heat, in addition to having a strong cramp in her left leg, stumbled in the last 200 meters of the marathon taking 10 minutes to complete them, before falling unconscious in the arms of doctors at the finishing line. Refused medical assistance, resisted calls to give up and shuffled to the finish line after a whole round at the Olympic she wanted to finish the course because that might be her last chance in the Olympics due to be thirty-nine years. She just came in 37th place among 44 runners, but she was more applauded than gold medalist Joan Benoit.
The fact is considered to this day one of the greatest examples of perseverance, courage and Olympic spirit.
It also served to change the rules. Thereafter it became possible for an athlete marathon to receive medical care without being disqualified, unless carried or helped to move.
This is a way of saying that all our dreams can be accomplished, just fight, believe and work, and so everything will be alright.
This book is set in 1940-41 inside the Warsaw Ghetto
itself. It is about the everyday frailties and courage of a varied cast of
ordinary Jews. Erik, a distinguished elderly psychoanalyst, has
to leave his comfortable flat and move into the Warsaw Ghetto, where the Jews
were confined during the Nazi occupation of Poland. In the tiny flat of his
niece, Stefa, and her nine year-old son Adam, he must not just adapt to a
frozen, starving life on the edge of death, but learn to overcome his
selfishness. It is the child Adam who sets the old man on this road.
The Warsaw Anagrams is a highly realist murder
mystery. One might wonder, why bother with one person's death, when
slaughter is all around? "We owe uniqueness to our dead" is the
imperative that Erik comes to understand. By remembering the uniqueness of each
dead person, that person's humanity is maintained and the Nazis defeated in
their desire to reduce the Jews to nameless ash.
This is a novel about a Portuguese adolescent who leaves Lisbon with her family to live in the suburbs of new York. Teresa can't speak proper english and she has problems to adapt to a new life and a new country finding refuge in her humour and in her best friend Angel ........Then her father dies and her problems are still bigger.............
YES...........I've invited him to come and speak with my students and he has accepted.
Richard Zimler was born in Roslyn Heights, a suburb of New York City, in 1956. After earning a bachelor's degree in comparative religion from Duke University (1977) and a master's degree in journalism from Stanford University (1982), he worked for eight years as a journalist, mainly in the San Francisco Bay area. In 1990, he moved to Porto, Portugal, and he has taught journalism for the last sixteen years, first at the College of Journalism and now at the University of Porto. Richard has both American and Portuguese nationality. He has published seven novels over the last decade: "The Seventh Gate; "The Search for Sana"; "Guardian of the Dawn"; "Hunting Midnight"; "The Last Kabbalist of Lisbon"; "The Angelic Darkness"; and "Unholy Ghosts."a group of inter-connected – but fully independent – novels about different branches and generations of a Portuguese Jewish family. Richard also writes reviews for the L.A. Times and the San Francisco Chronicle. When he's not writing, he enjoys gardening.
Edith Piaf, well-known and celebrated French singer who lived and shined between 1915 and 1963 left behind not only a set of amazing and unforgettable songs, but she also left a story worth telling.
Edith Giovanna Gassion lived a tragic life, a novel worthy one, according to the legend she was born on the pavement of Rue de Belleville 72, although her birth certificate says otherwise. Child of a street acrobat performer and of an Italian café singer, she was soon abandoned by her parents and in an early age she went living with her grandmother who ran a brothel in Normandy. With such a controversial start no one expected much from young Edith, raised by prostitutes and child of street artists. However and against all the odds that wasn’t how this women’s life turn out.
In 1929 she joined her father in his performances around France, for the first time she sang in public. Later she left him and started singing in the suburbs of Paris, she was found at a night pub and she was taught how to perform and dress (a black dress became her signature look), she also gain her nickname: “Môme Piaf”, the little sparrow, since she was only 142 cm.
Due to her magnificent voice she had great success in Paris, she also knew Yves Montand, her mentor and lover who between many others wrote songs for her. Her signature song appeared in 1945 – La Vie en Rose – and was voted for a Grammy.
During World War II she was considered to be working for the French Resistance, although lacking in evidence to such a strong statement we can certainly prove her sympathy for the French cause since she was many times photographed supporting french soldiers.
She end up dying from liver cancer in Grasse in 1963, when she was 47. A short and tempestuous life left behind an incredible musical legacy which ended with the words: “Every damn fool thing you do in this life, you pay for”.
I will leave you now with La vie en rose, enjoy this priceless classic!
Culture is the sum of characteristics of a particular group of people, defined
by everything from language, religion, cuisine, social habits, music and
arts. For example, in the United States as in other countries populated
largely by immigrants, the culture is influenced by the many groups of
people that now make up the country.
A French student of 15 years denies the theories of Newton and Einstein about the formation of galaxies.
The young Frenchman Ibata Neil is co-author of a study approved by the prestigious journal Science, about the dwarf galaxies of Andromeda, the closest galaxy from earth. He is son of a well-known French astrophysicist who is part of the international team that signs the study.
"It was from calculations of distance and velocity of these galaxies realized that the computer model in a few weeks. But one can say it was a fluke", says Neil.
The new model shows that, contrary to what was thought, dwarf galaxies are not independent, part of the same flat structure extending over millions of years light away in rotation on itself. The discovery opens new perspectives on current theories on the formation of galaxies and perhaps enormous role of dwarf galaxies.
In this imageis clearly visiblean example ofa person whodoes not acceptmulticulturalism. Multiculturalismis a term thatdescribesthe existence ofmany culturesin a locality, city orcountry.
Taboo or Jaime Luis Gomez was born in Boyle Heights, Los Angeles, California on July 14 of 1975, he is a singer, rapper and is part of the Black Eyed Peas. His father is Mexican and his mother is Indian. He has a son named Joshua who has born in 1993. He sings the music we heard in class named "The APL Song" where he told us about his life story
In 1998, Taboo did is first solo album which was self entitled. He also had problems with drugs and alcoholic drinks between 2003 and 2007, during that time he was arrested a few times but today he is sorry and is sober for four years, "Now I'm four years sober, to love life and enjoy the great things that happen now that I'm clean and sober" he said.
He has a great discography with The Black Eyed Peas, Monkey Business and The E.N.D.:
- Behind the Front (1998)
- Bridging the Gap (2000)
- Elephunk (2003)
- Monkey Business (2005)
- The E.N.D. (2009)
- The Beginning (2010)
On my Christmas holidays I did a lot of things . I helped my mother at her job , bought the presents , and I dedicated some time to prepare the nativity scene and midnight mass in the church of Canelas. During the second week I went to Gerês to do a spiritual march with a Catholic group , and there we went to São Bento da Porta Aberta and Fenda da Calcedónia, two beautiful places in Portugal. And at the end of the week I prepared the coming of the new year , with my parents and my cousins. As is a tradition and pans to scare hit the old year?. That was a little bit of my holidays that I would like to share with you all. What about you? What did you do on your Christmas vacation?
